Cindy Katz and John Rothman Lead Berkshire Playwrights Lab's AN INCIDENT

Berkshire Playwrights Lab will present a staged reading of Anna Ziegler's "An Incident" directed by Bob Jaffe on Wednesday, August 24 at 7:30pm at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. The reading will feature actors Tyler Gattoni, Sara Kapner, Cindy Katz, John Rothman, and JD Taylor.Admission is free, but reservations are suggested. For tickets, call 413.528.0100 or visit the Mahaiwe Box Office (14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, Mass.).

"An Incident" follows the Nadelman family from New York City to Maine, as parents Philip and Lillian visit Joey, their puzzling, hard-to-handle son, at sleep-away camp. After greeting his parents with more hostility than usual, Joey disappears. In the search for their son, Philip and Lillian expose the truth of their own relationship, and the full Nadelman family portrait, complete with shades of regret, recrimination, humor, and loss, is developed before our eyes.

"The Berkshire Playwrights Lab, through both Co-Artistic Director Jim Frangione and me, has been involved with the development of ‘An Incident' over the past year," said Jaffe. "Anna is one of our steadfast 'alums' and one of our favorite playwrights, so naturally, we couldn't be happier to be bringing her latest play to the Free Reading Series."

Anna Ziegler's full-length play, "Variations on a Theme," was presented in Berkshire Playwrights Lab's first season, and her two one-acts, "If" and "Sunlight in a Cafeteria," were part of the Lab's gala evenings in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Her play, "BFF," premiered Off-Broadway (W.E.T. at the DR2), and is published in New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2007. Other plays include "Photograph 51" (Ensemble Studio Theatre; Theater J; Fountain Theatre; winner of the 2008 STAGE Competition; upcoming at Vermont Stage Company, Central Square Theater in Boston, and the English Theatre Berlin); "Dov and Ali" (Playwrights Realm at the Cherry Lane; Theatre 503 in London; Chester Theater); "Life Science" (Brown/Trinity Playwrights Rep); "Evening All Afternoon" (New Georges); and "Novel" (SPF). She has been commissioned by The Manhattan Theatre Club, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, and New Georges, where she is an affiliated artist, and her plays have been developed by such places as The McCarter Theatre, The O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Primary Stages, The Araca Group, The New Group, Ars Nova, TheatreWorks, The Sundance Theatre Lab, The Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Rattlestick Theatre, The Old Vic New Voices program, The Cape Cod Theatre Project, The Geva Theatre Center, The Playwright's Center PlayLabs Festival, and Epic Theatre Ensemble.

Ziegler is the recipient of a 2011 Tribeca Film Institute/Sloan grant to adapt her play "Photograph 51" into a film; Ari Handel, Darren Aronofsky, Audrey Rosenberg and Rachel Weisz are producers. "BFF," "Life Science" and "Photograph 51" are published by Dramatists Play Service. She received her BA from Yale University and MFA from The Tisch School of the Arts. She is the winner of the 2010 Douglas T. Ward Playwriting Prize, awarded by Tisch, which is given to an alum of the dramatic writing program in celebration of her/his work.

Bob Jaffe is a co-artistic director of Berkshire Playwrights Lab. He directed the world premiere of William S. Yellow Robe Jr.'s "Better-n-Indins" and the New York premieres of "Were You There When the Sugar Beets Got Married?" (commissioned by the violinist Midori, with text and illustrations by Maurice Sendak) and Grammy Award-winner Bill Harley's "Get Lost: Rules for Travelers." Also an actor, he recently performed "...and then you go on. An Anthology of the Works of Samuel Beckett" (which he adapted) at The Cell Theatre in New York and toured a one-man show about hunger in America, "But for the Grace..." Jaffe has performed at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, La Mama E.T.C., the NY Fringe Festival, Trinity Repertory Company, the Providence Black Repertory Company, and Perishable Theatre, among others. He has appeared in the Showtime series "Brotherhood," "Law & Order: SVU," and a number of independent films.

Tyler Gattoni graduated from NYCDA and was recently seen in "The Tracks Are Electrified" at the Looking Glass Theatre; other works include "Spring Awakening," "Macbeth," and "I Am A Camera" at the Hudson Guild. Film includes "Pure Genius," "Lies," and McKenzie's "Tribe."

Sara Kapner: Broadway: Carol Burnett's autobiography, "Hollywood Arms" directed by Harold Prince. Other stage credits: "Captain Louie" (music by Stephen Schwartz), "Children's Letters to God," "Dr. Suess' Gertrude Mcfuzz and Lazy Andy Ant" at Lincoln Center's AlIce Tully Hall and Jordan Hall in Boston, "The Diary of Anne Frank" at the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Delaware Theatre Company. TV: "All My Children," "TV Funhouse" on Comedy Central and SNL. Film: Wendy Helms in "A Little Help."

Cindy Katz: Broadway: "Amadeus" and "Well." Off-Broadway: most recently, "Marie and Bruce" and Mike Leigh's "2000 Years," both at The New Group. Leading roles at Yale Rep, South Coast Rep, Ahmanson, Intiman, and the Guthrie, among others. Lots of TV and a bit of film, including "Limitless."

John Rothman: Broadway: "Prelude To A Kiss," "Some Americans Abroad," "Social Security." Off-Broadway: "Rodney's Wife," "Goodnight Children Everywhere," "Death Defying Acts," and "The Impossible H.L. Mencken" (which he wrote). Film: "United 93," "Devil Wears Prada," "Prime," "Copy Cat," "Stardust Memories," "Purple Rose of Cairo," "Zelig," "Ghostbusters," "Big," "Sophie's Choice," "Day the Earth Stood Still," "Arranged," "Synecdoche NY," "Adam," and the forthcoming "Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter." TV: "White Collar," "Private Practice," "Chaos," the Onion's "Not the News," "Rescue Me," "Arrested Development," "Law and Order," and "Kings." Yale School of Drama. Member: Actors Studio, The Actors Center, and Ensemble Studio Theatre.

JD Taylor: New York: "Hamlet (For 5 Actors)", "Letter From "Algeria," "Once In a Lifetime," "Burn This," "Wonder," "Wolves," "'Tis Pity She's A Whore," "The Storm," "StrindbergStrindberg." Regional: Williamstown Theatre Festival, The O'Neill, Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, Playmill Theatre. Film: "Lewis Black Drama Queen" (with Lewis Black) and "Constellations." M.F.A., NYU Graduate Acting.

About Berkshire Playwrights Lab
Founded in 2007 by theater professionals Joe Cacaci, Jim Frangione, Bob Jaffe, and Matthew Penn, the Berkshire Playwrights Lab is the area's only theater dedicated exclusively to encouraging, developing, and presenting new plays. Through readings-and in the future through workshops and fully-staged productions-the Lab provides emerging and established writers with a professional and creative environment, while offering audiences the engaging and provocative opportunity to share in the dramatic evolution of premiere works. For more information, call 413.528.2544 or see www.berkshireplaywrightslab.org.

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